February is black history month and unfortunately, it is also the month when Whitney Houston leaves us her legacy, so I’ve picked the film Waiting to Exhale to be featured for this month. Before Sex and the City came about, there was Waiting to Exhale. Based on Terry McMillan’s novel, Waiting to Exhale has the “girl power” any chick film should have, it follows four African-American women who are different but have the same struggles such as finding one self and looking for true love. Whitney Houston portrays Savannah Jackson, a TV producer who is in love with Kenneth Dawkins (Dennis Haysbert) who is married and she chooses to live in denial in believing he will leave his wife for her. Angela Bassett also starts as Bernadine Harris who becomes a successful businesswoman and gives up her career after marrying John Harris Sr. (Michael Beach) but after ten years of being together, her husband had a liking with his secretary who ends up being a white woman and files for divorce. Another character that stands out is Gloria Matthews, played by Loretta Devine who is a beauty salon owner and has a teenage boy; she recently discovers that her husband has come out of the closet. Last, Robin Stokes (Lela Rochon) has the most sexual appealing but her luck runs out when she decides to leave her lover Russell played by Leon Robinson, because she was tired of being his mistress. All four friends are on the same quest to reevaluate their lives and to find true love. Any single woman no matter what color can definitely relate to this film, dating is extremely difficult and to fall in love with someone is another story within itself. In the end, all four women find the strength and support through their friendship and each of them help each other to move forward no matter what life throws at them, they discover they are better off now than the way they previously were, and that is all what life is about: to evolve as a person.
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